Been ice climbing since February 2003 and I've done a few serious clean aid routes.  I enjoy bouldering, but prefer climbing up.  All of my early outdoor climbing was at Peter's Kill where I've climbed about 50 routes, most on toprope.  These days I consider the Gunks to be my home crag, even though it is three hours from Ithaca (and the weather isn't always ideal).  I've done over 150 climbs at the Gunks -- many more than once, and most on lead.

Climbing has taken me to some of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  Places I might never have seen were it not for my passion to seek out vertical rock faces -- Joshua Tree, the Colorado/Utah desert, the Blue Mountains in Australia, Daniel Boone National Forest, Red Rock Conservation Area, the Wind River Range, Bugaboo Provincial Park, the Gunks on a brilliant fall day.  Pulling down really hard on crimpers is nice.  But the friends, places, road trips and incredible views are what makes climbing a lifelong passion.

People always ask me to name my favorite climb.  I don't have one favorite, but I can list a few which stand out in my mind:
    Ancient Art (5.11), Fisher Towers
    Birdland (5.8+), Gunks
    Crimson Chrysalis (5.8), Red Rock
    Epinephrine (5.9, IV), Red Rock
    Exasperator (5.10c), Squamish
    Gamesmanship (5.8), Poke-O-Moonshine, Adirondacks
    Independence Monument (5.8+), Colorado National Monument
    Lost Arrow Spire Tip (5.9, C2), Yosemite
    Margarine Ridge (13, IV), Blue Mountains, Australia 
    Mate, Spawn and Die (WI5), Salmon River Falls
    McTech Arete (5.10), Bugaboos
    Modern Times (5.8+), Gunks
    Petit Grepon (5.8), Rocky Mountain National Park
    Pingora, South Buttress (5.8), Wind River Range
    Rewritten (5.7+), Eldorado Canyon

There is a second tier which will take your breath away nearly as well as the climbs listed above.  Certainly you shouldn't pass on an opportunity to climb them:
    Avalanche Gulch (non-technical), Mt. Shasta
    Baxter's Pinnacle (5.9), Grand Teton National Park
    Black Crack (5.9), Annapolis Rocks
    Black Orpheus (5.9+, IV), Red Rock
    Bolt and Run (5.9), Rumney
    Bugaboo Spire, NE Ridge (5.8, IV), Bugaboos
    Castleton Tower, North Chimney (5.9), Castle Valley
    Cathedral Peak, SE Buttress (5.6), Yosemite
    CCK Direct (5.9), Gunks
    Dez Guys (5.10a), City of Rocks
    Different Strokes (5.11c), Red River Gorge
    Directissima (5.9), Gunks
    Durrance (5.7), Devil's Tower
    Ecstasy (5.7), Seneca Rocks
    Electric Boobs (5.9+), Stone Mountain, NC
    Empor (5.7+), Cob Rock, Boulder Canyon
    Excellent Smithers (5.10a), Medlicott Dome, Yosemite
    Fairview Dome, Regular Route (5.9), Yosemite
    Fealine (5.11b), Rifle
    First Flatiron, Direct Route (5.6R), Boulder Colorado
    Five Gallon Buckets (5.8), Smith Rock
    Gettin' Lucky in Kentucky (5.10b), Red River Gorge
    Golden Dream (5.9), Peter's Kill
    Gridlock (5.11a), Red Rock
    G-String (5.11a), New River Gorge
    J Crack (5.9), Lumpy Ridge
    Jeff and the Giant Reach (5.11c), Squamish
    Junco (5.8+), Rumney
    Kansas City (5.7, C1), Gunks
    La Presa (5.11b), El Potrero Chico
    Lieback and Enjoy It (5.10d), New River Gorge
    Lonesome Dove (5.10a), Rumney
    Matthes Crest (5.7), Yosemite
    Monaco (5.11b), Joshua Tree
    Montezuma's Tower (5.7), Garden of the Gods
    Mountaineer's Route (5.9), Elephant's Perch, Sawtooth Range
    Never Never Land (5.10a), Gunks
    Obi Wan Ryobi (5.9+), Rumney
    Peer Pressure (5.10d), Rumney
    Pharaoh Mountain (WI3, 500'), Adirondacks
    Playing Hooky (WI4+), Six Mile Creek
    Reach Around (5.7), Peter's Kill
    Retribution (5.10b), Gunks
    Rhodian Shores (5.10b), The Bihedrals, Boulder Canyon
    Rico Suave (5.10a), New River Gorge
    Rock Wars (5.10a), Red River Gorge
    Royal Arches (5.7, A0), Yosemite
    Ruper (5.8+), Eldorado Canyon
    Serpent (5.10b), Red River Gorge
    Shockley's Ceiling (5.6), Gunks
    Slot Machine (5.8), Squamish
    Snake Dike (5.7), Yosemite
    Son of Easy O (5.8), Gunks
    Space Boyz (5.10d), El Potrero Chico
    The Good Stuff (5.10a), City of Rocks
    The Heavy Hitter (5.10c), Red Rock
    The Kid (5.10a R), Joshua Tree
    The Sting (5.8), Poke-O-Moonshine, Adirondacks
    Three Doves (5.8+), Gunks
    Trap Dike (NEI 2), Mt. Colden, Adirondacks
    Traveler Buttress (5.9), Lover's Leap
    Triassic Sands (5.10c), Red Rock
    Twilight Zone (5.4, C2), Gunks
    Vanderholics (18), Nowra, Australia
    Washington Column, South Face (5.8, C1, V), Yosemite
    West Ridge of Mt. Conness (5.6), Yosemite
    Whitney Gilman (5.7), Cannon
    Wolf's Head, East Ridge (5.6, IV), Wind River Range
    Yellow Spur (5.10a), Eldorado Canyon
    Yoda (5.9), Rumney

At 2200', Epinephrine is the tallest climb I've ever done.  Close behind are the NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire (1600' of climbing and 700' of scrambling, all in alpine conditions), Trap Dike (1900'), Wolf's Head (1600'), Royal Arches (1600') and Black Orpheus (1500' of climbing and 600' of scrambling).  Mt. Conness requires 2500' of climbing and scrambling to ascend nearly 1500 vertical feet, and is similar to Matthes Crest with about 2500' of climbing mostly along a ridge.  Solar Slab is 1500' if you include the approach pitches and we hit the summit at 10:30am.  At El Potrero Chico I did a bunch of tall climbs: Space Boyz 1100', Yankee Clipper 1300' and Time Wave Zero (to p16) 1500'.  Other climbs over 1000' include the South Face of Washington Column at 1200', First Flatiron with 1200' of climbing (900' of vertical and 300' along a ridge), Margarine Ridge with over 1100' of vertical,  Petit Grepon with over 1000' of technical climbing in alpine conditions, Crimson Chrysalis around 1000', Snake Dike with 1000' of climbing and another 1000' of scrambling, and Fairview Dome with around 1000' of climbing.  Mt. Shasta is the tallest mountain I've climbed at 14,162' -- started at 6880' and spent all day scrambling with ice axe and crampons up the Avalanche Gulch route which is non-technical (i.e. no ropes required).  My lifetime high point is 15,617' which I reached while treking in the Cordillera Blanca.  The South Face of Washington Column is my one and only big wall (Grade V) climb.  Black Orpheus, E Ridge of Wolf's Head, Epinephrine, Margarine Ridge, and NE Ridge of Bugaboo are the five Grade IV climbs I've done.  Time Wave Zero is also Grade IV, but I only made it to pitch 16.  I've twice spent the night deliberately on the cliff -- on the South Face of Washington Column and on the top of Castleton.  One miserable, windy, cold night was spent accidentally (though not totally unexpectedly) at the top of Black Velvet after climbing Epinephrine.

Mostly I consider myself a 5.10 leader.  Though I have led a bunch of 5.11 climbs -- Different Strokes, Random Precision, Critters on the Cliff (onsight), Jungle Trundler and Johnny B. Good at Red River Gorge; Ancient Art at Fisher Towers; Caustic and Gridlock at Red Rock; Chicks in the Woods, Cynarete, G-String and Tongulation at New River Gorge; Fealine and Ivory Tower at Rifle; Monaco at Joshua Tree; Three Easy Pieces at Rumney; Super Nova (p1, onsight) and La Presa at El Potrero Chico.  My hardest Gunks leads are Criss Cross Direct, MF (first pitch direct, onsight), Never Never Land, P38 and Retribution all 5.10a and 5.10b climbs.

One more list, then I'm done.  Promise.  The final list are the climbs I've done from Gary and Lynn Clark's North American Classics.  I'm not trying to do every climb on the list, but it would be cool to climb all which are within my ability.  So far I've climbed twenty four: Ancient Art, NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire, Castleton (S. Face is on the list, I climbed N. Chimney), Cathedral Peak, Crimson Chrysalis, Durrance on Devil's Tower, Epinephrine, Fairview Dome, Flatirons (Third is on the list, I climbed the First), Mountaineer's Route on Elephant's Perch, Mt. Conness, S Buttress of Pingora, Snake Dike on Half Dome, Lost Arrow Spire, Matthes Crest, Petit Grepon, Prince of Darkness, Royal Arches, South Face of Washington Column,  Space Boyz, Traveler Buttress, Whitney Gilman, E Ridge of Wolf's Head, and Yellow Spur.  In addition, I have attempted the Grand Teton, but bailed a few hundred feet shy of the summit.

Climbing is dangerous.  Driving is more dangerous.  I climb (and drive) in as safe a manner as I am able, but there are subjective and objective hazards.  I accept that risk because I want my life to be something more than long.

The secret of the Kiwi is that he represents all of us.  We all come to the same end.  Some of us are lucky enough to enjoy the journey.